A La Verkin man has been arraigned in 5th Circuit Court on a first-degree murder charge in the strangulation death of his former girlfriend.
Jeffery Scott Park, 28, also is charged with aggravated burglary, a first-degree felony, said Washington County Attorney Eric Ludlow.The 46-year-old victim was identified as Mari JuliAnne Murati of the southern Utah town of La Verkin.
Judge James Shumate on Tuesday also appointed Public Defender J. MacArthur Wright to represent Park. However, Wright's contract does not include representation of homicide cases, and the contract will be let out for bid.
Shumate set Park's bail at $1 million. He was being held in the county jail.
During the arraignment, Park told the court that he had been previously convicted of a felony and is on probation in DeKalb County, Ill.
County Sheriff Glenwood Humphries said the homicide occurred about a day after the woman had asked her live-in boyfriend to leave following a disagreement.
Park returned to the three-bedroom home Wednesday with a friend to remove his belongings, Humphries said. Murati was killed about 1 a.m. Thursday, he said.